Squeezer

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JINKS

JINKS

Fermentator Extrordinaire
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Hello, my name is JINKS and I'm a squeezer.:cross:

Today was my first brew in a bag, and after reading tons of threads across the web, I decided to NOT squeeze.

The problem started when I pulled up and dangled the basket in my Bayou Classic 44qt kettle. It was just hanging there peacefully dripping away, I even set a timer for a 30 minute drip, when I hear this small voice calling in the back of my mind.

"Jinks, hey Jinks, the drip isn't fast enough you need to hurry it along."

I managed to ignore this nonsense for about a minute, until I couldn't stand it any longer, and I had to get up from the Adirondack chair where I was peacefully reading so that I could check the drip speed.

I suppose I have somewhat of an instant gratification problem. I decided to use the 24" whisk to press a little on the grains as they drained.

To my surprise what sounded like an enormous waterfall of wort proceeded to fall from the bottom of the basket.

There in is the problem, had I not heard that, I may have been able to peacefully go back to waiting, but my sense of urgency had kicked in.

I squeezed that bag like it owed me money.

On the plus side I may have shortened the time it took to drain and I don't think another drop dripped from where I left it hanging from the clothes line pole.:D

p.s. Of the 7 gallons of start water I had 6.6 going into the boil.
 
Just did my first all grain biab with a no sparge and got 75% by squeezing the life out of it. Seems to work well.
 
casualbrewer said:
Just did my first all grain biab with a no sparge and got 75% by squeezing the life out of it. Seems to work well.
Click to expand...

beersmith says 74.7% for me.

Fortunately I use a bag from @wilserbrewer so it can take the punishment.
 
Hi, I'm Gavin C and I too, am a squeezer

9 lb grains soaking up 0.4 gallons after the squeeze. DSC03228.jpg
 
Hi, my name's Jeff and I'm a squeezer too.
I'll hold back 2 gallons of water at room temperature and pour it over my sack.
This brings it down to a much more enjoyable temperature so I can really give it the squeezing it deserves.
 
I'm a squeezer. I found this big colander on Amazon that fits my kettle nearly perfectly. I use some neoprene BBQ gloves and work on it for 15 minutes or so. I have very little water retention, but I need more accurate measurements. I suspect it is no more than .4 gallon with ca. 10 lb of grain. I separate bits of the grain in the bag from the rest and squeeze this smaller portion, then get another bit.

IMG_0204.jpg
 
Hello, My name is Mark and I'm a squeezer.

I have a pulley, but can't use it yet since I'm in an apartment.

I place my sack in two buckets, one inside the other. The top bucket is perforated with holes drilled into the bottom. I let it drain naturally for a few minutes, then press down with a pot lid. No sticky wort, no heat applied to my hands.

I use an absorption rate of about 0.08. My preboil volume is usually pretty accurate so I think this is an accurate absorption rate for my process.
 
pricelessbrewing said:
Hello, My name is Mark and I'm a squeezer.

I have a pulley, but can't use it yet since I'm in an apartment.

I place my sack in two buckets, one inside the other. The top bucket is perforated with holes drilled into the bottom. I let it drain naturally for a few minutes, then press down with a pot lid. No sticky wort, no heat applied to my hands.

I use an absorption rate of about 0.08. My preboil volume is usually pretty accurate so I think this is an accurate absorption rate for my process.
Click to expand...

Hey, I used your page to get my numbers going for my brew. Thanks for providing such a good utility to the community.
 
Anytime! Thanks for using it and letting me know :)

please let me know if you have any questions about it or anything you'd like to see added?
 
After a ladle sparge and about 20 minutes of waiting for the main wort to boil, I squeeze with my mash spoon first (if still hot), then my hands, until I get it all out. Then it combines with the main wort.

(And as a woman married to a woman, it's the only sack I've squeezed in a long time.)
 
Hi, my name is John and I'm a proud bag squeezer. I don my dish gloves and squeeze until the bag drips slow enough to move it over to a bucket without making a mess. I let it continue to drip in the bucket while I secure the hopsock and turn my PID to boil, then dump the bucket (2 cups maybe?) into the BK and discard the grains.

SeraW said:
(And as a woman married to a woman, it's the only sack I've squeezed in a long time.)
Click to expand...

That's friggen hilarious.

BTW, I squeeze my hopsock too. So there.
 
I m not only and old goat, but I am a squeezer as well. I find that I get more consistent results from squeezing. Typically, I get 85% to 86% efficiency when I squeeze. 77% to 80% before I became a serial squeezer...
 
wysiwyg said:
Hi, my name is John and I'm a proud bag squeezer. I don my dish gloves and squeeze until the bag drips slow enough to move it over to a bucket without making a mess. I let it continue to drip in the bucket while I secure the hopsock and turn my PID to boil, then dump the bucket (2 cups maybe?) into the BK and discard the grains.







That's friggen hilarious.



BTW, I squeeze my hopsock too. So there.
Click to expand...


I squeeze my hop bag with a ferocity not seen since Roman times.

Yes I squeeze my mash bag. There's sugar water in there.
 
Hello, my name is Wilser, and I am a reformed bag squeezer.

I joyfully remember the height of my squeezing addiction. Oh I would get such joy and pleasure, it was truly blissful. After hoisting my grain bag I would start the squeezing, I was so pleased at how much "free" wort I could squeeze from my bag. How I remember the good times, squeeze then rinse my sticky hands, then the monkey on my back would convince me to try another squeeze, sure enough more free wort....I just couldn't get enough bag squeezing, my sticky squeezer hands, pink from the heat...I was so happy I thought I was doing a great job!

Then one day after a brew session, I noticed a puddle of wort had mysteriously drained from my well squeezed bag while it was just laying in a rubbermaid tote waiting for disposal, It was at that moment that a light bulb went off in my squeeze addicted brain. How can more wort just drain out of the bag after all my hard squeezing, I was depressed and hit rock bottom as a squeezer at that moment in time. I made a commitment to myself that day, NO MORE OF THE SQUEEZING LIFE FOR ME!

On my next brew, I hoisted my bag and just left it suspended above the kettle as I came to boil, after 20 minutes a very fine stream was still trickling from the bag, after 30 minutes just merely a drip every few seconds. The urge to squeeze was overwhelming. At this point my squeezing addiction overcame me, and I gave the bag a big hard squeeze, and only 3-4 ounces were produced, and I came to the conclusion right then and there that there are for more productive things to do with one's time than squeezing your bag, as the true net gain squeezing is insignificant IME. My squeezing epiphany....sadly my squeezing days were over.

Sure, not a day goes by that I don't get the urge to squeeze my bag hard, but I know that I am a happier person to put those dark days behind me, and just let my bag drain with gravity, rather than all that messy obsessive bag squeezing that would consume my brew session.

Thanks,
wilser
"reformed" bag squeezer
 
Ya know @Wilser, it's your bag I'm squeezing. :)

My space does not allow me to hang my bag over the kettle, so I need to slide my kettle over to my pulley, which is not under my exhaust hood. As such, I squeeze a reasonable amount out so I can move my kettle back under the hood to start the boil. I do let the bag drip into a bucket for a while before I dump the bucket into the kettle and discard the grain. My intention is not to get every drop out, but to move from the mash process to the boil as efficiently as possible, with as much volume as possible.

Pretty cool that we all have different processes that result in beer!
 
At least I can take comfort in the fact that I am not alone. I am just an extract with specialty grains brewer but I am a squeezer.

For the record I squeeze the hell of of tea bags too. :(
 
Hello. My name is David, and I squeeze the bag every chance I get.

I BIAB in a turkey fryer. Once the mash is done, I pull the bag, set a clean, dedicated grill grate over the kettle, and drop the bag into the fryer basket and set it on the grate. I then sparge through the basket until I'm close to my desired pre-boil volume as indicated by my calibrated measuring stick. At this point I use a pot lid to press the bag as hard as I can. I fully use my 290lb bodyweight to my squeezing advantage. This usually nets me around 85% efficiency on a normal strength beer. It even got me 75% on a 1.127 Barleywine
 
Thanks to everyone for making this thread so entertaining. And @wilserbrewer it was because of your posts that I had decided to NOT squeeze. I just didn't realize how hard it is to not do it. Like not scratching an itch or something.;)
 
Squeeze that bag like there is no tomorrow. I like to put my bag on an old fridge rack on top of a plastic tub and squeeze whilst the wort starts heating to a boil the end up with enough pre boil volume. Works every time.
 
The technical term is SCOOB :fro:
SCOOB = Squeeze the Crap Out Of the Bag

I was a squeezer, but now that I use gravity to drain the bag, and a dunk sparge, there isn't need to squeeze.
I squeeze a few times after it's done dripping.

Your bag will probably last longer too.


The dunk sparge is easy and even more efficient than squeezing. I know because I use a refractometer and measure whats in the pot and what I get from the dunk sparge.

REAL MEN squeeze the bag.
But REAL SMART MEN do a dunk sparge. :mug:
and men who do neither ... aren't REAL MEN :p
(a pour sparge is in between, makes you a wanna be real man)
 
I too WAS a squeezer until I recently had a few of my beers sampled by an accomplished BJCP judge. Although he like most of my beer, he kept coming back to the fact that he could taste tannins. I, on the other hand, could not....... Until he pointed out what it tasted like. So now I allow gravity to do the work. He has tasted them since and it is undetectable.
 
Culln5 said:
I too WAS a squeezer until I recently had a few of my beers sampled by an accomplished BJCP judge. Although he like most of my beer, he kept coming back to the fact that he could taste tannins. I, on the other hand, could not....... Until he pointed out what it tasted like. So now I allow gravity to do the work. He has tasted them since and it is undetectable.
Click to expand...

Interesting, do you monitor your PH?
 

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